Memories of a Childhood
by Ammarine
Summary: Short fic of various events from Kindergarten through to Ryan taking Kelsi to the Senior Prom. Fluffy and maybe a little cheesy. Ryelsi, one-shot.


A/N: So this is the first HSM fic I've written, and the first fiction I've written in a while. For the record, I'm first and foremost a Ryelsi shipper, but I might throw in the occasional Jelsi fic too. This is just a fluffy piece that the scene of Ryan and Kelsi at the piano together working on "_Just Wanna Be With You_". I wish a complete version of the song could have been recorded, Oleysa and Lucas sound so much better than Vanessa Hudgens!! Anyways, hoping to have a few more pieces done in the near-ish future, but as I'm working on my Masters film, any free time I get is going to be scarce for the next little while. Oh, and yeah, I don't HSM, but if I did, it would have been a lot different!

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**Memories of a Childhood**

The door closed behind the young couple as they made their way to the car taking them to their senior prom. As an engine was heard starting, Graziella Nielsen pulled an old leather-bound book off the bookshelf and sat on the couch as her husband returned with two steaming cups of tea.

"Ella darling, our little baby girl is all grown up. It seems like it was only last month I was bringing you and her home from the hospital. Where'd the time go?" Keith asked as he passed tea to his wife and pressed a kiss to her head as he sat down.

"I don't know, time's gone so quickly. I was just thinking about it the other day. About the day those two first met. Do you remember it?"

-_-_-

Graziella Nielsen was greeted by the tinkling sounds of a toy piano and squeals of laughter as she picked up her daughter from Kindergarten. As she walked through into the playroom she was greeted by the sight of her daughter playing the toy piano and a young boy singing and dancing for his own mother. Both children were wearing oversized hats and her daughter was giggling as she was playing her music, her own version of Twinkle, Twinkle. Ella stood watching in the doorway with an indulgent smile on her face, not wanting to interrupt the moment unfolding in front of her.

Kelsi finished her song as the little dancing boy took a bow for his mom before running over for a hug. Kelsi looked up at her mom as she crouched down next to her and kissed her cheek.

A little voice piped up, "Mommy, that girl plays happy dancing music. I'm going to marry her!"

The mothers chuckled, as the boy introduced himself to Kelsi, "I like dancing to your music. I'm Ryan"

A shy smile escaped her as she replied, "I'm Kelsi."

-_-_-

That was just the beginning, Ella and Derby Evans became unexpected friends through their artistic children, friends that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. Derby and her family lived in a whole other social circle, but Ella was just grateful that her shy young daughter had finally made a friend.

Ella walked into a different scene a few weeks later. There was Kelsi holding a handful of paper flowers and wearing clover flowers in her hair. Ryan was dancing with her, until Kelsi noticed her mom had arrived. She dragged Ryan with her over to where Ella stood.

"Mommy! Can Ryan come over and play? We're playing Marriage."

"As long as it's alright with Ryan's mom, I guess so."

"Ducky! How's my boy?" Came a familiar voice from behind Ella.

Ryan let go of his friend's hand and raced over to his mother. "Mom! Can I go play at Kelsi's? Her mom said yes if you do!"

"Well, how can I refuse? I have to take your sister to her singing lessons anyway." She gave her son a quick hug before continuing. "Now you be good for Mrs Nielsen."

"We can drop Ryan off after dinner if you'd like, Derby," Ella offered.

"That'd be nice, thanks Ella. Your family will have to come over one weekend for a barbeque and the kids can play in the pool."

-_-_-

That was where everything started to fall apart between the two children. The visit to the Evans' place was essentially a disaster. Ryan's twin sister was determined to play the alpha female in any game the children played, leaving Kelsi playing a bad guy, monster, or not playing at all. The evening ended as Sharpay made fun of Kelsi's swimming costume, a bright pink suit with a tutu skirt and white polka dots all over. Despite the fact it was a little too big for the small child, it was her favourite costume. Kelsi was inconsolable and the Nielsen family headed home, Ella muttering angrily about spoilt kids in the car on the way back home.

-_-_-

Shortly after the barbeque incident was the Kindergarten's Halloween play. Every child in the class had role and at least one line, and most were eager to show off for their parents. Naturally, there were a few mishaps, but the parents watching in the audience loved every moment.

Kelsi was petrified, and wouldn't speak to anyone except her mom and her cousin, her closest friend, Jason. Luckily for Kelsi, Jason told her he didn't like the shows too, he just wanted to play outside with the balls and run around with the other kids. Jason took Kelsi's hand and they both reluctantly made their way onto the stage in front of all the mommies and daddies. When it was time for her line, however, Kelsi froze stage fright before running off stage and hiding next to the broken-down old piano in the corner. After the show, as Ella made her way through the crowd of little people looking for her daughter, she heard laughter. Up ahead, she saw Sharpay and Ryan with Kelsi. Sharpay was laughing, and Kelsi was standing there with tears running down her cheeks.

"You can play a statue next time, Kelsi. Or you can watch. Real stars don't run off stage, you know." Sharpay laughed. Ryan was giggling and nodding with his sister, but stopped when he caught sight of his friend's face.

"Kelsi, time to go sweetie. You ready?" Kelsi ran over to Ella's open arms, buried her face into her mother's stomach and nodded. "Okay Kels, let's go. Do you want to go for ice cream?" Her face still hidden, Kelsi shook her head.

"Okay, let's just head home. I'm so proud of you for having a go at it, though, baby." Keith said, catching up to his girls. Taking his daughter's hand they left the Evans twins behind, Sharpay laughing and twirling for her parents, Ryan sadly looking at his lost friend Kelsi and her parents walking away.

-_-_-

The Evans children and Kelsi went through Elementary, Middle and High school together. As much as Kelsi disliked Sharpay's bossiness and selfishness, she kind of felt sorry for Ryan and ended up composing all sorts of school musicals that the pair starred in. Seventeen to be precise. The Winter Musicale would have made eighteen were it not for Gabriella, the transfer student and basketball superstar, Troy Bolton. Secretly, Kelsi was on Cloud Nine. She was delighted to see someone finally beat out Sharpay for the lead in a musical and to have Troy and Gabriella perform the original version made the victory all the sweeter. No one was speeding up the tempo of her music, or altering the key in which she wrote her tunes and, above all, Kelsi was given the honour of musical director for _Twinkle Towne_. Things were starting to look up for the Playmaker.

-_-_-

Summer holidays flowed on from the end of the musical. Sharpay had told Kelsi she had to be the pianist at the Evans' country club, whilst Ryan gave her a sympathetic look as he followed in his sister's wake.

Kelsi was in two minds about the summer job; she wouldn't have her typically enjoyable Sharpay-free summer, but she'd have the opportunity to spend more time with the Wildcats and Ryan and get to know them all a bit better. Ever since Troy and Gabriella were cast as the leads, Ryan had the chance to break away from his sister's influence, and to all appearances, he was making the most of it. There were still occasions, like this morning, where he'd lose himself in Sharpay's ego, but he was also starting to interact with people other than his sister, both within and outside the Drama Club.

As the summer progressed, Sharpay's domineering nature led to Ryan finally feeling like a Wildcat, like he belonged, especially after the baseball game. He got to know Gabriella, Kelsi, and later on Troy. However whenever he looked back on that transitional summer, his favourite memories were of sitting on a piano bench playing a piano with the girl he'd always wanted to marry. He doubted that she even remembered the day they first met, his first day of Kindergarten, but it was a memory that, for him, had never faded and never would.

-_-_-

His sister, whilst she had somewhat mellowed, was could still be at times rather single minded and, well, intense. She was desperate for the duet that Troy and Gabriella would be singing in Senior Year, desperate enough that she told him to cosy up to Kelsi and take her to the prom. As if he hadn't been thinking of that all summer anyway. But Sharpay didn't get Kelsi like he did. Kelsi composed the music that she did because it was the spark in her spirit, as dancing was in his and baking in Zeke's. It didn't matter which song Troy and Gabriella sang in the musical, because singing together was their spark. Not to mention, all of Kelsi's songs were inspiring, he could only wish he knew what inspired her and could be her inspiration.

Kelsi was working on the last song she had to write for her final school musical. She needed a way to start the show, get the audience into the idea of reliving the senior's final year with them. As her fingers moved along the board unconsciously playing a well loved and rehearsed tune, Kelsi thought back to the previous morning in the school's rehearsal room.

She was fiddling with the melody in Troy and Gabriella's duet as Ryan entered. It wasn't unheard for him to join her before school; in fact since they had started working together on Senior Year it had become increasingly more common. He started playing the piece by sight and the two chatted about the musical, when, out of the blue, he told her he was going to be her date to the Senior Prom. What?! She wasn't even planning to go, she had too much work to do on her compositions, working on her entrance audition piece, if she ever made it to Juilliard that is. But when Ryan told her that he would take her, she couldn't help but feel a warmth in her chest start to grow, almost like a spark of hope had been ignited and now the flame refused to die. At lunch she had told Jason what had happened, and as he replied with an indulgent smile and a bear hug he muttered in her ear, much to her confusion, "If he hurts you, he's a dead man."

Remembering that moment in front of the piano gave Kelsi the inspiration she needed to write a piece for her and Ryan to open the show with. It may be for the last chance they would all be on stage together, but hopefully it wouldn't be her last chance with him.

-_-_-

"Are you nervous?" He asked her quietly as they reached the car his parents had arranged. Kelsi nodded slightly and played with end of the ribbon on the corsage Ryan had placed on her wrist in her lounge room.

"Yeah, a little. You?"

"I guess so, I never really thought about it. You're not mad at me for making you come tonight, are you?"

"What? No. In fact…" Kelsi trailed off, as if suddenly realising what she was going to say.

"Yeah?" Ryan asked, his curiosity piqued.

"No really, it's nothing. Nothing important. Even if I did tell you, you'd just laugh."

Ryan placed a hand over her hand worrying the corsage he gave her and linked his fingers with hers. "Kels, do you really believe that?"

Kelsi was silent and Ryan had almost given up any thought of a reply when Kelsi spoke softly. "I don't."

"So what was so unimportant?"

"It wasn't much, really, I was just going to say I was thankful you offered to escort me. I-I wouldn't have gone otherwise, since Jason always took me. But now that he's got Martha, I guess I feel like a bit of a third wheel around them. It doesn't matter, but thank you." She looked up from their entwined hands when Ryan didn't reply, instead he looked at her with an unfamiliar expression that made the warmth in her chest rise up to her face.

"No, Kelsi, thank you," Ryan replied quietly. "I'm really happy you decided to come with me tonight." Kelsi felt her face heat up further, but strangely enough, she didn't care.

**-FIN-**


End file.
